President
Donald Trump’s
personal attorney,
Michael Cohen,
has dropped a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed over the publication of an unsubstantiated intelligence dossier that alleged he played a role in working with Russia to help Mr. Trump become president.

Mr. Cohen is also dropping a similar defamation suit against Fusion GPS, the private investigation firm responsible for the dossier.

Since filing the suits in January, Mr. Cohen has come under criminal investigation for potential bank fraud and campaign-finance violations. His attorney said the probe made it difficult to continue with the defamation cases.

“The decision to voluntarily discontinue these cases was a difficult one. We believe the defendants defamed my client, and vindicating Mr. Cohen’s rights was—and still remains—important. But given the events that have unfolded, and the time, attention, and resources needed to prosecute these matters, we have dismissed the matters, despite their merits,” Mr. Cohen’s attorney,
David Schwartz,
said in a statement.

FBI agents raided Mr. Cohen’s home, hotel and office last week, seeking documents about, among other things, a $130,000 payment he made in October 2016 to a former adult-film actress to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006, people familiar with the matter have said. Messrs. Trump and Cohen deny that the encounter ever occurred.

The 35-page dossier was compiled in 2016 by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, working on behalf of Fusion GPS. It purported to contain information that Russian officials have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump and that the Kremlin colluded with members of his team to help get him elected.

BuzzFeed welcomed the news Thursday, saying the lawsuits ‘have never been about the merits of our decision to publish it.’
Photo:
Brendan McDermid/Reuters

One of the allegations contained in the dossier stated that Mr. Cohen had traveled to Prague to meet with Russian officials. Mr. Cohen has denied that the meeting ever took place or that he has ever met with Russian officials or been to the Czech Republic.

Many news organizations had seen the dossier but withheld publication because they were unable to verify its claims. BuzzFeed published the full dossier online in January 2017, arguing that then-President
Barack Obama
and president-elect Mr. Trump had been briefed on its contents, which elevated it to a matter of public interest. When it posted the document, BuzzFeed acknowledged that it couldn’t confirm whether the allegations were true.

“The lawsuits against BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier have never been about the merits of our decision to publish it,” the news organization said Thursday in a statement. “Its interest to the public is, and always has been, obvious. Today’s news suggests that Donald Trump’s personal lawyer no longer thinks an attack on the free press is worth his time.”

Fusion GPS also welcomed Mr. Cohen’s withdrawal of the suit. “We welcome, though are not surprised, that Michael Cohen opted to withdraw this meritless complaint rather than face a discovery process that would have forced him to defend his reputation and address the allegations of the Steele dossier under penalty of perjury. With his decision, it appears that Mr. Cohen can now focus on his many other legal travails,” the company said.

BuzzFeed continues to fight two other defamation suits related to the publication of the dossier.

One was brought by Russian tech executive, Aleksej Gubarev, who was named in the document as a hacking expert involved in stealing data from the Democratic Party. He has denied the charges.

The other was filed by the owners of Russia’s Alfa Bank, who were alleged in the dossier to have taken part in a government scheme to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Alfa bank says the charges aren’t true.